I work primarily in the still life genre and focus on both metaphorical and prosaic subject matter. Working under Professor George involved working from life exclusively, using at first the conceptual and technical methods of the Direct painters—the Flemish, Dutch, and Spanish masters, and then the late nineteenth century Italian, French, Slavic, and American painters. Some of my current influences include European vanitas painters such as Pieter Claesz, Francisco Zurburán, Gustave Caillebotte, and Jan Vermeer. Also, I study the works of Chardin and play with concepts of momento mori, and trompe loeil. My goal is not to imitate their styles, but to understand how they thought, how they used the mediums, what their problems were, and how they approached them.